<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>centaurea cyanus by kiyoomibrainrot</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28194411">centaurea cyanus</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiyoomibrainrot/pseuds/kiyoomibrainrot'>kiyoomibrainrot</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Christmas, Draco Malfoy Redemption, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Good Slytherins, Harry Potter Has Nightmares, Hogwarts Eighth Year, Insomniac Draco Malfoy, Luna Lovegood &amp; Draco Malfoy Friendship, M/M, Protective Slytherins, Redemption, you see they both can't sleep so hehehe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 22:35:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,593</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28194411</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiyoomibrainrot/pseuds/kiyoomibrainrot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After returning to Hogwarts, Draco is still plagued by his actions during the war. Sleep doesn't come easy anymore - but not just to him. Nighttime rendezvous with a certain Harry Potter brings new insight to what Draco has been missing over the past seven years. Growing without his dictatorial father, a new friend and a loving mother there to guide him, his search for redemption may not only result in forgiveness, but maybe even love.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom/Theodore Nott</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>centaurea cyanus</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hogwarts was as beautiful and astonishing as it was seven years ago. The tall, towering turrets licked at the clouds and stood, not scary or dominating but as a warm embrace, it still felt like home to someone as outcasted as Draco Malfoy.</p><p>He walked with his fingertips dragging along the old stone walls, the same way he did at eleven years old, looking around, eyes agleam at the future he expected to have at this school.</p><p>The stones crumbled beneath his fingers.</p><p>The castle walls shifted somehow, gone was the aged stone of the school, and smoothly polished rock took over. It was the first time since Hogwarts was constructed that a section had to be rebuilt. The new walls weren't all that much different, but they were more clean, pristine. They were perfect, almost as a way to pretend like the new school wasn't build on the bones and blood of the ones who fell for it.</p><p>He was waiting in the Slytherin common room when a large squeal disrupted his peace and a body flung at him. He let out an indignant shriek, which was returned with loud cackling from beside him.</p><p>Draco's surprise turned quickly into a shocked laugh when he saw his best friend. "Pansy!" He chuckled and smiled up at her. Blaise and Theodore strolled in a few moments after, easy smiles on their faces.</p><p>"How were all of your summers?" Draco asked softly, delighted at seeing his friends for the first time in months.</p><p>He and his mother were on mandatory house arrest, following his trial at the ministry. Draco couldn't feel anything, his body had become an empty carcass of what it was before. He had forced himself to follow through with all his father's demands for so long that he didn't know what it felt like to be alive anymore. His body no longer felt like his own, the first month after the war was like an out of body experience. The stress and trauma of the war had taken such a terrible effect on him, that he was unable to leave the comfort of his own bed for three weeks. He was so weighed down by the force of the guilt he felt, the lives that were lost because he was too scared to stand for his own beliefs.</p><p>When Draco had admitted to his father that he purposely didn't identify Harry Potter, the look of fury and anger his father gave him was branded behind his eyelids. He had lashed out in his rage and cast the unforgivable Cruciatus curse on his own son. It felt like his insides had been ripped out of himself and his skin had been turned inside out then covered in salt. He could still feel the roughness in his throat when his screams were torn from his stomach.</p><p>His mother stepped up into the position and was strong for both of them, with his father hiding in Austria, and most of his relatives had fled to France, it was only the Black side of the family left.</p><p>"Mines been rather uneventful, Greene just moved in." Blaise started, and Pansy glanced over at him in pity.</p><p>When they were younger, Blaise's mum was like an enigma to them. She would have a husband for two years before he would mysteriously disappear leaving his whole bank account for Blaise's mother. It took them years to realize what was truly happening, that Blaise's mum's six husbands didn't just leave them. Mrs Zabini was beautiful, she was a siren who left men dead, bleeding and crushed on the sharp rocks that she planted around her. She was a charismatic seductress who knew how to use all her assets to her and her family's gain. Despite not seeming like it, she loved her child dearly, she would do anything for him, anything to ensure that he lived a lavish, safe and happy life. Maybe that is why she decided not to pick a side in the brewing war, elegantly neutral, following neither the light nor the dark. The war was over now, and Astra Zabini had still managed to win without lifting a finger.</p><p>"The ministry is still trying to make me stay with some random distant relative." With all of Pansy's immediate family locked up, she had chosen to stay with Blaise's family until their graduation at the end of the school year.</p><p>"Don't worry, Panse, they can't do anything to you," Draco consoled, "mum and I spent the whole summer fixing up the gardens."</p><p>As mundane and boring the act seemed, tending to something as small and delicate as muggle flowers allowed Draco to feel so much freer and happier. In those little flowers perspective, Draco was a beacon of light to save them, Draco kept these flowers growing and healthy, Draco was able to keep something alive.</p><p>He wasn't able to keep Crabbe alive.</p><p>Draco was Atlas, bearing the weight of the souls of the people who died solely because of his actions. The rows of people who died in the battle were imprinted onto the back of his eyelids. These people who studied alongside him, who fought against him, who fought to live as hard as he did. They didn't just haunt his every waking thought but intruded upon his sleep. He doesn't like to sleep anymore.</p><p>Thumps of footsteps shook the group out of the comfortable silence they had been left in. Blaise cast a quick <em>Tempus</em> charm and cursed, exclaiming that they were about to be late to the welcoming feast in the Great Hall. The four of them scrambled up, fixing their robes as they began towards the main hall.</p><p>The heavy wood door somehow looked even more domineering than it did when he was a small first year. It looked almost foreboding the way it glared down at him like it knew that once he walked through the doors, the ceiling would come crashing down on him.</p><p>Draco could hear the loud chattering of the school, he took a deep breath and pushed the door open.</p><p>When the group entered the voices faltered for a second before picking back up again. Draco let out a breath of relief and made his way to the Slytherin table.</p><p>"Honestly, Draco, I don't know why you seem so stressed," Pansy started, "I was the one who told Potter to give himself up."</p><p>Draco smiled appreciatively at her for her efforts but in the end, it was him to let the death eaters into Hogwarts in the first place.</p><p>The food appeared onto their plates, rows of beef, peas, vegetables and delicacies that were only seen at Hogwarts. The Slytherins all dug into their meal, yet Draco was picking at his turkey. He felt unsettled, a prickling in the back of his skull that he couldn't ignore. Running out of patience and riddled with curiosity, Draco turned towards what was picking at him.</p><p>Harry Potter was staring straight at him.</p><p>Harry Potter who had saved the wizarding world, had defeated the person who plagued him with so much fear. Potter who had defended him and his mother at their trial and saved them yet again from Azkaban. Potter who's bright green eyes blazed across the room.</p><p>Draco turned back to his plate and stabbed his fork into his turkey. </p><p>Theo and Blaise's conversation paused and they both turned to him. "Who's got your knickers in a twist," Theo teased.</p><p>Draco ducked his head into his hands and rubbed his eyes, "It's nothing." Pansy caught Blaise's eye and dipped her head towards the Gryfindor and they both stifled their laughter. Draco lifted his head just in time to see Theo's eyes widen in realization. He eyed them suspiciously, knowing that if they were talking about him, it wouldn't be all good. </p><p>Blaise leaned back and raised his hands into the air in mock innocence, asking "What? Draco, why are you questioning our intentions?"</p><p>Theo cut in, "Yeah, you'd think after ten years of friendship you'd have some faith in us." Pansy made a noise of agreement, and Draco glared at them before slumping his head back into his hands.</p><p>The three of them burst out laughing and Draco smiled softly into the dark mahogany of the dining table.</p><p>***</p><p>Headmistress McGonagall recited the annual welcoming speech, then gave orders to the eighth years, that they would all live in the new north tower that was built after the battle. They would all share a common room but would get to choose four others who they would want to room with. They would be given more freedom now that they were adults, no curfews, and were allowed to freely leave the school as long as a professor was aware. </p><p>They were lead in the large group to the newly built north tower, Draco's friends leaving him and Pansy as they dashed to the front to get better rooms.</p><p>Pansy linked arms and Draco smiled down at her, he was glad Pansy was still with him, despite her intense crush a few years ago, she was still one of the only people he could feel completely at ease with.</p><p>"Penny for your thoughts?" Pansy asked, bumping her shoulder against his. </p><p>"A penny? More like a galleon," Draco retorted and laughed when Pansy dramatically rolled her eyes at him.</p><p>"Okay c'mon now before there isn't any room left we have to sleep in the common room," Pansy said, Draco letting out a shocked shout as she dragged him towards the other Slytherins.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>